Like Jimmy Kimmel, when hosting the Emmy Awards (prior to the 2016 election) said: “Many have asked, ‘Who is to blame for Donald Trump?’ I’ll tell you who, because he’s sitting right there. That guy.” Kimmel pointed into the audience, and the live feed cut to a closeup of Burnett, whose expression resolved itself into a rigid grin. “Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don’t have to watch reality shows anymore, because we’re living in one...”
Sourced from this article, a good read: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/07/how-mark-burnett-resurrected-donald-trump-as-an-icon-of-american-success
A long long time ago, somewhere on this forum I posted another article about Burnett that was far darker and more speculative in that it discussed Burnett's military background in more detail and posited that Burnett had ties to some unsavory foreign players somewhat in the vein of an Erik Prince. No idea if that was true. He certainly approached Putin about a decade ago about producing a show in Russia but that may have just been him looking for whatever angle he could to keep shows in the pipeline. Because ultimately he is a producer and now with his appointment as special envoy to the UK, all of his 'I'm not pro-Trump' rhetoric is as fake as his shows.